高中英语阅读理解 第二部分 欧美习俗（四）练习.doc

第二部分 欧美习俗（四）16. christmas day圣诞节christmas day, the 25th of december, is the biggest festival celebrated in the christian countries of the world. christians regard this day as the birthday of jesus christ， but many of the customs and celebrations are not of a religious nature.in the large shops preparations for christmas start five or six weeks before the actual day. shop owners like christmas because it is a time when people exchange presents. in large towns decorations are put up in the main streets two or three weeks before christmas.preparations are also made at home. special puddings and cakes are eaten on christmas day and these have to be made three or four weeks in advance. two or three days before christmas, people decorate their houses with paper decorations and leaves and branches. people also like to have a christmas tree in the living room. this is a very small fir tree, which is decorated with silver paper and colored lights.although everyone enjoys christmas day, it is particularly enjoyed by children, because they know that christmas father will bring them gifts from the chimney at night. every family has its own traditions at christmas. some exchange presents on christmas morning. others put all the presents around the christmas tree and wait till evening before giving them out. but all families have a huge christmas dinner-usually at midday. if they can afford it they have a turkey and ham followed by christmas puddings.everybody likes to be happy at christmas time. the theatre puts on special shows for children. the circus is another thing that parents may take their children to see. here, audiences sit in a circle and the performance takes place in the center. the main attraction is the performing animals. elephants, lions and tigers are trained to do astonishing tricks. every circus, too, has clowns who make people laugh.comprehension questions:1. what is the biggest festival in the west? _a. new years day. b. christmas. c. easter. d. labor day.2. why do shop owners like christmas? _a. because they will have a good rest. b. because they can exchange presents with other people. c. because this is a time when goods sell better than at any other time of the year. d. because the preparations of their shops make them happy.3. when do people begin to prepare for christmas at home? _a. three or four weeks before christmas when they make special puddings and cakes.b. five or six weeks before christmas. c. two or three days before christmas. d. on christmas day.4. how do people decorate their houses for christmas? _a. they decorate them with paper decorations.b. they decorate them with leaves and branches.c. they put a christmas tree in the living room.d. all of the ways above.5. what is a traditional christmas dinner? _a. it begins at midday.b. people eat a turkey and ham followed by christmas pudding.c. people will drink a lot of wine. d. people only eat puddings or cakes.(bcadb)17. thanksgiving day感恩节thanksgiving day is a special holiday in the united states and canada. families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.thanksgiving day is really a harvest festival. this is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. the first new england thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. the pilgrims landed at what is now plymouth, massachusetts, in 1620. they had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. many of the pilgrims died. but the next year, they had a good harvest. so governor bradford declared a three-day feast. the pilgrims invited indian friends to join them for their special feast. everyone brought food.in time, other colonies began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. but it took years before there was a national thanksgiving day. during the civil war, sarah josepha hale convinced abraham lincoln to do something about it. he proclaimed the last thursday of november 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. today, americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth thursday in november. canadians celebrate thanksgiving day in much the same way as their american neighbors. but the canadian thanksgiving day falls on the second monday in october.on thanksgiving day everyone is ready for one of the biggest meals of the year. mother is up early to put the turkey into the oven while father and children help to get the house ready for guests.when the turkey, the vegetables and many other things are on the table, everyone sits down. some families say a prayer to give thanks for their food. thats the reason for thanksgiving. americans want to remember the pilgrims and their trips across the ocean in 1620. thanksgiving dinner is like the meal of those pilgrims after their first long winter in new england.thanksgiving is not just a day to eat and to remember the pilgrims. it is also a time of year when people travel from far away to be with their families.comprehension questions:1. thanksgiving day is celebrated _ a. in spring. b. in summer. c. in fall. d. in winter.2. the first to celebrate thanksgiving were _ a. some people from england. b. the american indians. c. sarah josepha hale. d. governor bradford.3. we can infer from the passage that new england must be _ a. in the usa. b. in great britain. c. in canada. d. on some island off the atlantic.4. the passage mainly tells us _ a. how thanksgiving day is celebrated in the usa. b. how thanksgiving day came into being and the different ways it is celebrated. c. that thanksgiving day is in fact a harvest holiday. d. how the way to celebrate thanksgiving day changed with time and place.5. the main food for thanksgiving is _a. vegetables. b. beefsteak.c. fish. d. turkey.(caabd)18. valentines day情人节several different stories are told about the origin of saint valentines day. one legend dates as far back as the days of the roman empire. according to the story, claudius, the emperor of rome, wanted to increase the size of his army. he knew that it would be easier to get young men who were not married to join. therefore he made a rule that no young man could marry until he had served a certain number of years in the army.a priest named valentine broke the rule and secretly married a great many young people. finally, claudius found out about valentine and put the priest in prison, where he remained until his death on february 14.after his death, valentine was made a saint, and the day of his death was named saint valentines day. it became the custom for lovers to send each other messages on this day. now saint valentines day is a time for people to send one another greetings of many kinds.comprehension questions:2. a priest named valentine broke the rule, and _a. he married well. b. he got married soon.c. many young women were married to him. d. he made so many young people married.3. saint valentines day is set on february 14, _a. because most of the young people would get married in this month.b. because february is a month for lovers.c. in order to honor valentine, who died on this day. d. because february 14 is always a sunday.4. saint valentines day is a day on which _a. people play a trick on each other. b. many young people get married. c. young lovers send one another greetings of many kinds. d. valentine will come back and marry many young people.(adcc)19. surnames of the western people 西方人姓氏的来历the origins of family names are very interesting to talk about. it is helpful for us beginners to know about them in learning a foreign language.in early times, when people lived in small villages, surnames were unnecessary. everyone knew everyone else in the village and there were rarely visitors from outside. if someone referred to stephen or hilda, everyone knew at once who it was since there was only one stephen or one hilda in the village. but as time went on, tiny villages became big ones. then there might be several stephens and several hildas in the same place. it then became necessary to tell one from the other. how was this done?one way of telling one stephen from another was by adding the name of his trade. as a result there might be stephen the miller, stephen the cook, stephen the weaver, stephen the shepherd. after a time these would be shortened to stephen miller, stephen cook, stephen weaver, etc., which gradually came into being. before long, the same names were given to the mens children at birth and their wives took the same surnames on marriage.another way of distinguishing men with the same name was to refer to them by the name of the place where they lived. if three men were all called john, one might be referred to as john in the field, another as john in the woods, and the other as john under the hill. in this way surnames such as field, wood, hill, pond, and shore came into use.another important way of distinguishing between men with the same name was to say whose sons they are. of three men with the name of tom, one might be called tom the son of john, another tom the son of william, and the third tom the son of richard. this practice gradually produced common surnames such as johnson, richardson, robinson, jackson, and wilson.still another way of distinguishing men was to give them nicknames according to the sort of person they were. thus a very small man might be called john the small man. a very short one might come to be known as stephen the short man. this gave rise to many surnames such as short, small, long, white, wise, strong, bright.comprehension questions:1. according to the passage, the origins of surnames are not associated with _a. ones occupation or job. b. ones residence. c. ones appearance or characters. d. animals that people kept.2. tom hunter wants to see you. you wonder how his surname was formed. the origin of his surname is connected with his ancestors _ a. occupation. b. residence. c. appearance. c. characters.3. which of the following reasons why surnames were formed is not mentioned in the passage? _a. the villages where people lived grew larger and larger. b. there might be several people who had the same name in a village.c. there might be more visitors from outside. d. it was necessary for people to distinguish those who had the same name. 4. from this article we may conclude that _ once played an important part in social life. a. men b. womenc. trade d. living places5. the article seems to suggest the origin of surnames have nothing to do with _a. ones trade. b. ones living place.c. ones mother. d. ones nickname.(dacac)20. different names about britain英国的不同名称when we do some reading, we often come across these names：the british isles, britain, great britain, en